Abstract:CNC machine tools play a pivotal role in the equipment manufacturing industry, but multiple geometric errors seriously affect the machining accuracy. Measuring and compensating all the geometric errors requires a lot of work, so it is necessary to identify key errors to improve the efficiency of compensation. Sensitivity analysis method is mainly used to study the influence degree of each error on the volumetric accuracy, and can accurately identify the key errors of the machine tool, which has gradually become a research hotspot in the field of machine tool accuracy optimization. This article summarizes the commonly used sensitivity analysis methods, such as partial differential method, Sobol method and extended Fourier amplitude sensitivity test method, etc., the application research status of machine tool accuracy design and workpiece machining accuracy optimization, and summarizes the existing research difficulties and problems. Sensitivity analysis can accurately identify the key errors of machine tools, which has important application values for realizing high-efficiency and high-precision error compensation of machine tools.